The most hopeful day of the Lions’ preseason is the annual kickoff luncheon at Ford Field. The audience isn’t as ravenous for the same baked chicken meal as it is for the same organizational optimism that this particular Lions edition will ascend to the heights unavailable to their predecessors.

But it’s a sales pitch with no chance at success unless the focal points are coaches and players new to what can be charitably described as “The Lions Experience.”

Golden Tate was the perfect person to address the crowd Wednesday.

“Thank you for being very patient,” Tate sympathetically told those attending. “It’s going to change.”

And, same as in previously years, the crowd roared with approval.

Ford Field was filled with the die-hards Wednesday afternoon. How many of those patrons vowed after another torturous twist of knife’s fate following the 2013 regular season that they wouldn’t buy into the hope ever again? But here they are again, hearts laid bare on their sleeves.

And Tate adroitly tapped into that unrequited fulfillment.

“The plan here is to win the NFC North,” Tate told the crowd. “Once we win the NFC North, then we’ll worry about everything else. But when we win the NFC North, that means we’ll get home games. We’re playing on our home turf. We’ll have our fan base behind us.”

Tate — the Lions’ biggest free-agent acquisition — is a newly adorned Super Bowl champion, a key offensive piece on Seattle’s title run last season. When such players become Lions, they’re openly revered. They’ve seen the mountaintop. What does it look like? They know what it takes to get there. Is it something tangible that can be shared with an organization that has never come close?

“I came here because I want to keep winning,” Tate said. “And I believe that we’ve got the talent and the coaching to get it done here.”

And the audience willingly lapped it up.

But there were nonetheless some conspicuous absences Wednesday. Where was Bill Ford Jr.? Where was general manager Martin Mayhew?

Ford is usually the biggest cheerleader at the luncheon, pumping the pom-poms that a Super Bowl was in the Lions’ reach. Regardless of the Lions’ performance, this will be a difficult season for the Ford family because it will be the first without team patriarch William Clay Ford Sr., who died in March. The ownership transition becomes one of the main story lines this season.

During the luncheon, president Tom Lewand recalled a conversation he had with Ford Sr. and his wife, Martha, immediately following the season. And he said their first question to him is what they have to do to win the NFC North in 2014.

It still stings the Lions that they gave something away last year. The division championship was theirs late in the season with injuries to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler. But their collapse in the season’s final month was in some ways more embarrassing than 0-16 because last year’s team was talented, but somehow not tenacious or tough enough.

“Well, one of the things that we stated early on,” coach Jim Caldwell said. “Just in terms of our DNA and who we are, you can judge us on three things. Three very, very simple things.”

Play fast. Play smart. Play physical.

“If our guys aren’t knocking people around and getting after them,” Caldwell added, “and not enjoying doing it, if you don’t see that, then obviously you’ve got reason to be concerned. But I think you’ll see that from our guys. … We’ve got great people to work with. These men are outstanding. So look for some great things.”

Though some of the participants were new to the idea of selling Lions optimism, the script stayed the same. But Wednesday was the Lions’ last chance at talking about how things will change this season.

In 11 days, the talking stops and the results will be all that matters.